Just two days before the Super Tuesday California primary, Obama received another significant endorsement. Maria Shriver, governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s wife gave her support asserting, “I thought, if Barack Obama was a state, he’d be California†“[Obama, like California, is] diverse, open, smart, independent, [and] bucks tradition. [he’s] Innovative. Inspirational. [a] Dreamer. [a]Leader.†[..]  Unfortunately, this endorsement did not have a great enough influence on the California primary. Obama came in second place (10% less votes than Hillary). However, because California does not posses a “winner-take-all†primary, Obama was able to add 160 delegates to his total number of delegates. Speaking of delegates, Obama added many more delegates on Super Tuesday after winning: Georgia, Illinois, Alabama, Delaware, Kansas, Minnesota, Colorado, North Dakota, Alaska, Utah, and Missouri. Although Obama won more states than Clinton did on Super Tuesday, Clinton received more delegates because she won in more delegate “rich†states. After a successful Super Tuesday, Obama raised $5.8 million dollars on his website. The next day at 9:30 am, Obama increased this number to $7.1 million dollars. This great amount of money that Obama raised will significantly help him maintain his strong momentum, especially because Clinton lent $5 million dollars of her own money to support her campaign’s efforts.
Moreover, this week Obama won the states of Louisiana, Nebraska, and Washington by a large percentage (22% margin in LA, 36% in NE, and 37% in WA). Governor Christine Gregoire’s (Washington) endorsement of Obama a few days before the caucus may have influenced her state’s Democratic results. After these great wins, Obama now stands with 1,121 delegates, only 27 delegates behind Clinton). Ultimately, it is still very uncertain whether Clinton or Obama will receive the nomination, as Obama quickly catches up to Hilary. Now both Obama and Clinton are focusing there efforts on distinguishing themselves from McCain, the Republican frontrunner. In fact, Obama is favored over Clinton (although within a small margin of error) to beat McCain in the presidential race, according to a recent poll. Thus, in order to widen this hypothetical lead, Obama has implemented a offensive strategy, which includes focusing on the fact that McCain and Clinton both supported the Iraq War.
3 comments:
Though Obama has stated that he is not going to name any possible VP candidates, it is interesting to speculate who the Senator is contemplating. There has been speculation about Sen. Dodd as a possibility after Obama's statement on television, but that is no indication. Who would the best VP for Obama be?
Obama's momentum over the past few months has really been spectacular, so much so that I worry he could be the Democratic nominee. That momentum will surely continue after the potomac primary, but I think the situation may change in the general election. Our perspective is rather distorted right now since the debate between Obama and Clinton is within the Democratic party, and since one needs a microscope to decipher the differences between the two on "the issues," it's unlikely that any difference in the political views of either candidate will affect the general election. However, I think Republicans will absolutely tear Obama apart for his lack of experience, an issue which will matter a great deal more in the general election. Finally, despite Obama's appeal to independents, McCain has been even more successful in snatching independent votes.
It looks like Obama could be making the come back. He has been consistently gaining on Clinton from a delegate stand point, and it should be interesting to see if he can continue to add more delegates. It will be fun to watch and see if Obama's strategy to criticize Clinton and McCain for supporting the war at one time or another actually ends up working in his favor. It could end up being the deciding factor, and if he does beat Clinton, it looks like at least from projections, he could be favored to beat McCain, and become the next president.
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